Uchiha Family Curse
by JeffC FTW
Summary: The Uchiha was cursed. On the day of his death, she brought their first and only child into the world. She was alone with all she had left of him - until his brother came to protect them both, swearing revenge on those responsible for their troubles. Fourth in the Uchiha Series.


**Next in the Uchiha oneshot series, and definitely takes the long-awaited tragic turn. :S Get out your Kleenex, ladies and gents, even if we all know what happens to one of our favorite Uchiha men...and what it does to the one he leaves behind.**

 **Previous in the series: A Gift to the Uchiha, Bride of the Uchiha, Uchiha Wedding Night - and now this one.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but Hanaru.**

At dawn he would leave her. _For good._

He surveyed her closely that night. Taking his next dosage before bed, right after eating a meager meal she'd made herself, Itachi swallowed down the water which made his stomach settle. Nausea came as a side effect prior and after. When his time came to fight his brother, he would not need this, as means to help Sasuke kill him.

She tried not to cry. They both knew this day would come...but why did it all have to happen like this? It had been _three years_ \- three wonderful years - and it was all coming to an end when neither wanted it to. But what was written in stone couldn't be removed. The evening was falling when he dwelled on all of this. He shivered and pulled his black _yukata_ around himself. Sometimes he had the chills for no apparent reason; sometimes he thought his disease gave him the chills like the fever.

She was moving out of the adjoined bathroom and walked right over to the bed they shared, her _yukata_ white and patterned with dark blue flowers. Her long hair was tied in a braid down her back, which he seldom saw in her. He smiled softly and regarded his pregnant wife as she walked over to sit beside him. He turned his back to her and let her begin to braid his hair for the night.

He loved it when she tied his hair back like this. She soothed him. Itachi leaned his head back when her fingers massaged the back of his neck, pinching the muscles and nerves, making him moan. They hadn't been in bed as man and wife, aside from just sleeping together, since his illness got worse around the time they both found out from Konan-sama that Hanaru was with child - _my child. The first Uchiha to be born._

Actually, half Uchiha and half Uzumaki - she finally disclosed to him whose sister she was, but never met her brother, which hardly surprised him - which would make their son or daughter much stronger than either of them would be. His wife wasn't a trained Shinobi, but her will lasted longer than any training she would have had. When he was gone, she would protect the child, as long as she was within the Akatsuki's protection...but that also meant Madara would get to them both.

If only they could be gotten away...

 _I told her the truth about the massacre. I told her Madara Uchiha was pulling the Akatsuki's strings, but for the sake of my brother and the village, she cannot tell_ anyone _about this._ But that didn't mean she couldn't tell their child and keep them on the right path.

Hanaru's lips touched his shoulder when she was finished. "What are you thinking about, _saiai?_ "

"Nothing but you...and this one here," Itachi answered, turning around and placing his hand on her swollen abdomen. A few more weeks and the little one would enter the world. And he wouldn't be here to see it happen. Guilt chewed bit by bit of his heart. He sensed the child was doing well. A tremendous sense of pride swelled within him. Had things been different, Sasuke would have been happy to be an uncle.

She swallowed when she looked him in the eyes. This was their last night together, and they had to make it last, but not in the way they had on their wedding night, long before and after that when they conceived. "I wish you would be here when he comes," she croaked, eyes shining with the flood. Itachi shushed her gently and kissed her.

"Don't fear, Hanaru. Remember what I told you?" He laid down then, pulling the covers to cover them both. She turned to lay on her side facing him. She bit her bottom lip without a word. Tenderly, Itachi continued, his fingers ghosting over her forehead and her cheeks. "Even if we are separated from each other, I will find you and protect you no matter what it takes. I will always be with you, so..." He gave her another kiss. The hour was growing late. At dawn, he would leave her and their unborn child here for their protection. If Kisame survived when he did not, he was going to be his child's godfather. He was all she would have left. He would make Madara swear on oath that he, too, would never harm his wife and baby for his own means. His family was his major concern besides making damned sure Sasuke would NEVER know the truth about that night. "...for now, have a good sleep."

Her eyes closed without trouble. She fell asleep beside him without a tear shed. He held her close, if her huge belly prevented a complete embrace.

"I'll be waiting for you on the other side, my _koishii_..."

~o~

"Just one more push, Hana-chan," Konan urged gently, standing on the other end of the screaming woman in agonizing pain for the last eight hours. She was supposed to be happy that this day had come - but one man wasn't here, and he was supposed to be.

She could sense it all. He was gone. She had the feeling because of the irony in which one life was coming into the world while the other was ending...the Uchiha family was cursed. She had never thought too hard into this until now. Itachi had been gone for three weeks now. He was going to die because he sacrificed everything for his village - THEIR village - and his baby brother who knew nothing. Sasuke blindly walked the path of revenge, and he would kill his older brother he used to love so much, the brother who still loved him in return and was -

 _No, I don't hate Sasuke, but I hate that he's walked away from his friends, his comrades, for the sake of revenge. I heard that he joined Orochimaru to become stronger, then he defeated the Snake Sannin, and now he and his brother are fighting at the moment._

It was so hard to concentrate on bringing her child into the world - the one thing she had left of Itachi. She was alone again, but she wasn't a child. Had not been for a long time. Itachi grew up in a world of violence and misery, did what he had to in order to survive, and she was always on the move, never in one place for too long.

Reality had come crashing down the moment she brought Itachi's child into the world, with Konan delivering for her. It was just the two of them. Itachi and Kisame were gone out, Deidara and "Tobi" elsewhere, so she was here with the only woman who could help her. Leader Pain wasn't present, so she was happy, because even though he kept out of her business, she was still intimidated by him. _And Madara Uchiha..._

She never met the man, so where was he? Itachi said the man operated from the shadows, and no one except Pain and Konan knew the truth. In other words, Pain was simply a figurehead. And since she had no real Shinobi skills, she couldn't hope to get on the bad side of the ancient, "eternally living" former patriarch of the Uchiha clan.

"He cannot tell Sasuke the truth, so I intend to give Sasuke a...parting gift that will activate if he ever comes to meet Madara's Sharingan with his own," Itachi had told her before he left. "That way Sasuke will return to the Leaf Village and restore honor to the Uchiha."

She cursed them all in her rage, in her final scream at Konan's encouragement to push one more time: _the Elders...except the Third Hokage...the clan...Madara...all for what they did to Itachi. And Sasuke has no idea about this. He hurt those around who are still alive today. He has no damned idea...and he doesn't even know about me and this baby..._

On par, the child's healthy cries filled the air.

Konan looked like she was holding back tears. She had been through two wars and suppressed all emotion - except this smile at holding the new life in her arms, and it was the offspring of one of her subordinates who was really a good man at heart...if she didn't know it either. "My gods...it's a boy."

Hanaru looked over at the squirming thing in her arms, her cheeks burning with molten tears. Her son's eyes were squeezed slightly shut, and he was still crying. His cord had been cut. She wept harder when he was placed into her arms. "Gods, he's beautiful..." she choked. "Little prince...your daddy would be so proud to see you..." She cradled him close to her; his eyelids fluttered as if trying to remain open.

"Oh, my, and his father would indeed be pleased." She gasped sharply and turned her head to see _Kisame_ standing there, his teeth bared as he looked at the sight of the newborn. She and Itachi wanted him to protect their child if something ever happened to her, but why would she let that happen to herself, leaving their only son as an orphan like her baby brother had been...?

Hanaru had just given birth, but she wanted to speak to Kisame when she was up. The dull gaze in his beady eyes was the answer she needed.

 _They were partners, and in the end...he considered Itachi a friend that he feels the same way I do, but he won't show anyone else like a real man and Shinobi, rogue as he is._

Later, she did gain some strength enough to allow him to come and visit her, and it was then that he did tell her that her husband was indeed dead, and unfortunately, so was Deidara, which made her crack even further that another good friend was gone. _Sasori...Kakuzu and Hidan...now Deidara...and finally Itachi. What's going to happen to the Akatsuki now that it has only a few members left?_

~o~

 _Itachi lied to me. He betrayed our clan, murdered our mother and father, joined the Akatsuki...to protect me and the Leaf Village. The Elders put him against his own family and made him go rogue...those bastards..._

Sasuke had never been so hateful in his life. That hatred he had for his brother died the moment Madara told him everything...and the fact that Itachi had a _family. He left behind a pregnant wife on the verge of giving birth. Damn it, you bastard - you went and decided to continue the clan instead of me._

However, as he shed his tears on the beach that day as the sun was setting, knowing Itachi had a heart to love another and have a baby with her...it fueled his determination all the more to carry out the new change in his plans: _our new operation...to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village._

The way the village thrived showed how much Itachi sacrificed everything - including his own family he'd made on his own - and for that, they would all pay along with the remaining Elders. The Third Hokage had been entrusted to watch over Sasuke, at Itachi's request, and the promise was kept. Sasuke wanted to hate Sarutobi for this, because he could have prevented this as his duty as Hokage, but he was too old and weak, so he'd let Danzo have his own authority. All the more reason to go for him first.

 _"He shouldered all the blame onto himself, accepted his fate as a criminal who murdered his own clan, bore the disgrace of a rogue ninja...and in the end, Itachi still died with a smile on his face."_ Madara's words echoed in his memory.

But the memory of Itachi's smile as he poked his forehead one last time - and had transferred the Mangekyo onto him - like he did when they were children: _"Forgive me, Sasuke...but this is it."_

 _No, brother, it's not the end. For you, and for your wife and child...I will destroy the Leaf Village. You never owed anyone anything, so I will avenge you if it's the last thing I do._

~o~

She and her baby were both confined to bed rest, but Konan did the honors of monitoring the both of them herself. "Great Leader says his congratulations to the both of you," the blue-haired woman said softly, giving her a special herbal tea she'd made herself. Hanaru really loved this. Hopefully it would quell the ache in her breasts a little.

"Have you decided a name yet?"

Hanaru thought long and hard on this, so she answered without trouble, "I named him 'water lily' Uchiha," she answered, baffling the older woman for a moment, which was priceless and made her laugh. Then another smile graced Konan's face.

"Ren, is it?" she asked lightly, turning her attention to the small, crafted crib at the foot of the bed, where the child was sleeping peacefully. He didn't cry a lot, not since he was born. "It's befitting...Itachi reborn through his own son." _Yes, that is why I picked the name even though it is feminine. But who said the flower of rebirth can't be the name for a male?_ She looked down the foot to gaze at Ren, who would never know his father, but she intended to make him strong one day and live up to both the Uchiha name and her own - she was going to protect him until he could be as powerful as Itachi would be. She did not care if she was overthinking anything. After all, a mother wanted what was best for her child.

 _But if only Mum and Dad were alive, Jiraiya...and if Naruto knew about us. I heard he has gotten so much better for himself._

Speaking of which, she'd gotten word that there remained three _Jinchuuriki_ left, her brother included. It meant that he was in trouble, but he was getting stronger, wasn't he? Master Jiraiya was dead, which meant he had to either continue on his own or find someone else to help him. And he and Sasuke had been friends...yet another important person the little bastard left behind. That was one reason she had little respect for Sasuke. If she saw him...

"So, my nephew gets a girl's name? But it has a good meaning to it." That voice...she turned her head to see HIM standing there. He looked like the outlaw he had become in those clothes, and no doubt the Uchiha crest was on his back. Her late husband never wore it again, but traditions with some living clan members never died off. She would have worn it in alternate circumstances since she'd married into the Uchiha.

Konan looked at Sasuke Uchiha without a change in expression. She didn't trust him, that much was obvious. "Rest well, Hana-chan," she said gently, touching her hand on the back before she walked past Ren's crib and ghosted her fingertips on the infant's soft forehead, but when she graced past Sasuke, he disregarded her altogether. She gave no second glance either, and soon she was gone, leaving Hanaru Uchiha alone with her brother-in-law she was meeting for the first time. He looked her over, without a blink before he took a few steps closer, still saying nothing. She had no idea what to say to him, either. She took in his features. He was rather handsome, resembling his brother - and so different at the same time. Raven hair spiked back like a chicken's rear, eyes shining with black fire, and his tunic partway opened to show a muscled torso. His sword was strapped to his back.

"You're Hanaru?" he said finally. His voice was deep, but not velvety like Itachi's had been.

"I am," she answered, sitting up straighter. "Why did you decide to come and see me at this time?"

"Hn, why should I not see my sister-in-law and newborn nephew," Sasuke replied, a corner of his mouth lifting up before it vanished. "What my brother said in his final words when he fell dead before my feet, and who Madara told me needed protection."

 _Of course, that old demon...he's going to come and see me very soon. But if I stay on his good side somehow, maybe Ren and I will be fine. At least until..._ "Well, I never expected you'd say you would want to watch over a new addition to your family that you are just meeting," Hanaru stated bluntly, sliding out from beneath the covers and going to sit over the edge to look at her baby boy tossing a little in his sleep. It was the most precious sight she'd ever seen.

Sasuke watched her for a few more seconds before he finally stood before them both. He was so hard to read, but his hard eyes softened when they looked over his nephew, who was a part of his brother whom he killed out of blind hate and revenge. "Itachi should never have to go and die on the day of his son's birth," he said, heatedly under his breath. His hand came up, gently resting it on the baby's forehead. Ren grunted and opened his eyes to look up at the new face, seeing his father in the man who was his uncle. Then Sasuke broke eye contact with the child and looked into Hanaru's. "That is why I am going to restore his honor and our clan's, and I'll protect you both," he swore, his pupils dilating with calm fury. Her heart ran cold.

"Sasuke, what are you going to do now?" she asked softly, worried and having a terrible feeling. But she hoped that it wasn't what she thought it was...

He held up his other hand before her eyes to silence her. "Tomorrow night I will answer when we all gather," he said. "Madara is preparing the last of whatever it is he's planning. Right now, Hanaru, tell me about how you and my brother met."

She offered a somewhat forced smile when he gave a hint that he was interested more in his brother now that he knew the truth. She was more than happy to entrust him with her side of Itachi's story...

 **There is a vid on YouTube labeled "Itachi has something to tell his fans", with him saying exactly those words. Accompanied by score, I was burned to human tears. :'( Review please.**


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